I make mead with the honey but my partner Clare makes jam/marmalade etc.

The Tesco jars are a doddle - paper lables etc.

The gales jars have a clear plastic lable and when it's peeled off (reasonably easily) I'm left with a transparent glue that has defied white spirit, surgical spirit, acetone based nail polish remover and Toluene/n-Hexane based "evostik" glue cleaner.

I'd rather get the glue off as the jars need to be sterilised for jam/marmalade, and without removing the glue the jars are basically relegated to the "recycling box". I'd think it was more environmentally friendly to be able to re-use them as opposed to having to recycle them

Did you try turpentine? Dunno if you can get hold of it, as it's aggressive stuff, used for cleaning off paint from brushes. Note that any cleaner needs time to solve the glue, don't expect instant removal!

If all else fails, and the jars are made of glass, you can heat them with a soldering torch or other open flame (bbq!). Be sure you do that outside, as I don't know the chemical composition of the glue in question.

@ Dutch Master - No I didn't try "proper" turps. It can be obtained but not that easily, since it was replace with "White Spirit" as a paint cleaner/thinner.

So far, I've tried white spirit, surgical spirit (isopropyl alcohol), the Toluene/n-hexane based glue remover, "Brake cleaner" (which would normally have Trichlorethane in it - except the only one I could get the other day didn't). The only stuff that I've had limited success with, is Xylene based "Carb Cleaner" (Silkolene product - previously used for my motorcycle).

I've had a few other suggestions to try like a "Tar and Glue Remover" that contains Trimethylbenzene in it - used in the motor industry for car valeting - not sure where I'd find that though. Plus cigarette lighter petrol (as opposed to gas) - which is napthylene based. I'd actually forgotten all about trying that as it's been known to clean all sorts of things.

@ pootman - No, I hadn't thought of trying steam. Last time I tried any heat was when they'd come fresh out of the dishwasher - so they'd have been about 50 degrees C - I suspect that it'd be as you say and that steam would get them hotter though.

As for help/information on the label (or phone no's etc)? Well, unfortunately, I discovered that Gales are no longer a "proper" company that might offer help etc, they're just another brand of the "food nazis" a.k.a. Nestle.

Trying to get anything out of them, unless it's something official caused by VVV bad PR, is like getting blood out of a stone - in any case, it's probably just bought in in bulk and bottled by some faceless sub-contractor - I understand this kind of stuff, as I often carry some products of that nature in my truck (food products, but just not the kind you'd normally find on the shelves of your local supermarket). So I suspect that'd be a dead end.

I'll keep at it though, the lighter petrol, steam and if need be, I'll go to the local car paint supplier and get some cellulose thinners - I've never heard of anything that can resist that! But there's alway a first time I suppose!

Eat some fish caught in the North Sea and you're going to ingest a fair whack of that stuff anyway.

bigjohn, I don't know whether real turps will be any more effective than all the petrochemical solvents you've tried, but if you want to give it a go you can still get it from artists' materials shops.

Have you tried 'Nitromoors'? (I think I've spelt it right.) It's a paint/varnish stripper, or you could get the Homebase/B&Q labelled version. Be careful. It's vicious stuff.

Well the best guess I've found so far, has been a chemical called Trimethylbenzene - It's used in "glue and tar" removers in the "car industry" i.e. car spivving/valeting - so I should be able to find it somewhere - I got the actual chemical name from someone at the UKTVFOOD forums - and the trade/brand name of "Preptone" from the blokes that were putting some new livery on the flight simulator I had to move earlier this week. Dunno if the "Preptone" name is a "designers/printers" thing or not but it points me in the right direction.

@ MartyBartfast..... the jam/marmalade etc won't go into the jars until they've been A. "Destickified", B. Through the dishwasher on the "hot" programme, and C. subject to the usual sterilisation processes. After all, the jars are glass. Plus if it was that much of a problem, then there'd never be any glass recycling would there! How do you think they remove the glue/plastic/paper residues? They can't just rely on the burning/heating process of re-manufacture, because then they'd have mega snags with their smoke emissions etc from the burning of the plastics etc etc.

Also, you'd be suprised where certain chemicals are used - particularly in food manufacturing. For instance, when I drove waste vehicles, we had one job for a Kent based miller (seeds/oil as well as flour), and that was to collect the flammable Hexamine waste, which resulted from the treatment of rape seeds, prior to their milling to produce the vegetable oil. I could go on, but one example is enough.

The labelling suggestion would be great if it wasn't for the fact that "they" use custom label sizes and for home jam making I don't yet need to include all the dietary information and brand name space etc etc.

I'll post how I get on when I get hold of some of the Glue/Tar remover.

I have used Holts' tar spot remover to get stobborn label glue off before, but it doesn't list the contents on the tin. The trouble with heavy glue deposits is that it just seems to smear it around to begin with, quite a lot of cleaning effort with fresh cloths and remover is required.

I have used a product imaginatively called "Solclens" and sold (produced?) by a company called Guardian Products of Kelbrook, Barnoldswick. http://www.guardian-products.co.uk/It is most remarkable stuff. We always have a 5Lt. bottle in the house. We first discovered it after trying everything we could think of to get rid of black diesel engine oil drippings from our concrete drive (incontinent motorhome). Bloody miraculous.
I know it is used extensively in Rolls Royce's factory in Barnoldswick because a friend of a friend works there, and was the origin of my finding out about it.
A drop of this (with rubber gloves on) and a wire wool panscrub and you problem is solved. It goes a long way because it is used appropriately diluted with water.
Good luck.